Announcing openSUSE 11.0 GM

The openSUSE Project is proud to announce the release of openSUSE 11.0 — everything you need to get started with Linux on the desktop and on the server. Promoting the use of Linux everywhere, the openSUSE Project provides free, easy access to the world’s most usable Linux distribution, openSUSE.

On the Desktop

Whether you use GNOME or KDE, the openSUSE 11.0 desktop is a beautiful experience. Users have the choice of GNOME 2.22, KDE 4, KDE 3.5, Xfce, and more! See the screenshot page for a in-depth look at the openSUSE desktop.

GNOME 2.22

GNOME users will find a lot to like in openSUSE 11.0. openSUSE’s GNOME is very close to upstream GNOME, because Novell and openSUSE want to do as much work as possible in the upstream release. However, we do modify GNOME’s artwork to provide a unified look and feel for the distro. The default GNOME configuration, such as panel layout, is slightly different than “stock” GNOME, and the openSUSE GNOME team backports a number of bug fixes into our GNOME release to ensure stability and the best possible GNOME experience.

GNOME 2.22 in openSUSE 11.0 includes the GNOME Virtual File System (GVFS), with better support for networked file systems, PulseAudio for better sound management, improvements in Evolution and Tomboy, and much more!

KDE 4.0

openSUSE 11.0 is the first openSUSE release to include a stable release of KDE 4.0. This release includes sweeping changes in the KDE desktop, and represents the next generation of KDE. This release includes a new desktop shell, called Plasma, a new look and feel (called Oxygen), and many interface and usability improvements.

KControl has been replaced with Systemsettings, which makes system configuration much easier. KDE’s window manager, KWin, now supports 3-D desktop effects.

KDE 4.0 doesn’t include KDEPIM applications, so the openSUSE team has included beta versions of the KDEPIM suite (KMail, KOrganizer, Akregator, etc.) from the KDE 4.1 branch that’s in development and scheduled to be released in July and for online update.

Note that KDE 3.5 is still available on the openSUSE DVD for KDE users who aren’t quite ready to make the leap to KDE 4.

Compiz Fusion

The openSUSE desktop is not only a green glorious sight to behold, it’s also available in 3-D! Compiz Fusion is now the default in openSUSE 11.0. You’ll find a slew of interesting Compiz plugins, as well as easier configuration with Simple CompizConfig Settings Manager (CCSM) and the more comprehensive CompizConfig Settings Manager that allows detailed configuration of your Compiz setup. See the Sneak Peek for a detailed look at Compiz Fusion on openSUSE 11.0.

Firefox 3.0

Firefox is one of the most popular open source applications on the planet, and the openSUSE desktop just wouldn’t be complete without Mozilla Firefox. The 3.0 release has a number of new features and improvements that will make browsing the Web on openSUSE convenient and safe, including better site identification features, simplified add-on installation and management, detection of “phishing” sites, the ability to save tabs on exit, better download manager, and a new page zoom feature that lets you zoom text or the entire page.

Note that openSUSE 11.0 ships with Firefox 3.0 beta 5, and updates to the final 3.0 release will be available through online update.

Banshee 1.0

openSUSE 11.0 includes Banshee 1.0. The Banshee media player has been re-written to improve performance and includes many new features, including video playback, better “shuffle” playback, support for iPods, MTP devices, and mass storage player devices, and support for podcasts and better Last.fm integration.

OpenOffice.org 2.4

You can work hard and play hard with openSUSE. If you need a high-quality office suite that’s Microsoft Office compatible, look no further than Novell’s OpenOffice.org 2.4. This release includes import support for OpenXML, 3-D transitions in Impress, SVG import support, improved performance over standard OpenOffice.org, and better Excel support and VBA macro support.

NetworkManager 0.7

NetworkManager has been vastly improved since 10.3, and now includes support for multiple network interfaces and UTMS and EV-DO cards.

Under the Hood

Linux kernel 2.6.25

glibc 2.8

GCC 4.3

Media and Download

openSUSE is now available for immediate download. The openSUSE 11.0 release brings several new options for installation media, as well as familiar choices:

All of the contributors who have worked on openSUSE deserve a huge thank you. Without your hard work, this release would not have been possible. openSUSE 11.0 is the best openSUSE release yet, and will help promote the use of Linux everywhere! Now, get openSUSE 11.0 and have a lot of fun!

Having monitored 11.0 progress since the early betas, I’ve got to say – fantastic job! Congrats to everybody involved on the best release to date of the best distro and thank you, thank you, thank you guys for making this happen! :)

An openSUSE user since “SuSE 9.0”
I still remembered that I downloaded the mini “boot.iso” to install SuSE via network for 6 hours LoL
And after that I enjoyed my Linux life with SUSE LINUX
Now it’sname has been changed to “openSUSE”
But it’s still the green desktop that I feel familiar with……

These years are the hardest time for openSUSE developers
the rise of Ubuntu,the Novell-M$ Pact etc.
Yet you all still did a great job to release such a stable and powerful distro
Hope you can continue your excellent work in the future
Congratulations and long live SUSE! :-)

I agree with you pertaining to the artwork and especially the login screen. The green would be better if it was somewhat darker and not soo “green”. I hope that some creative people out there will be kind enough to make a nice theme for us.
As for KDE 4.0.x, it’s lacking a lot of features that are already being integrated in 4.1 Beta 1. The first thing I did after installing openSuse 11 was to add the KDE 4.1 repository and installed the current development version, which I find to be very stable but don’t do it if you are not fond of experimenting and if you do don’t turn on Nepomuk, which will make you system crawl like a snail :)

Opensuse’s green and bright colours: that’s why I like openSUSE, and also that’s why I like Windows XP too, they use a lot of bright colours and also a lot of white. Looking at a dark or grey screen is something that takes away my “appetite for work”. As for the KDE4 part: I agree with you, KDE3 had a lot more options which I really miss from KDE4. Hope that will change in the future with newer releases.

But anyway, thanks to the entire openSUSE team for making such a great distro!

Although I am running it with KDE 4.1 (which just reached Beta 1) since RC1, I can only say that this is a rock solid release and the best openSuse that I have used unto now. There are a lot of improvements (especially speed) all over they place.
I would just like to say a big thank you to you all at the openSuse team and congratulations for delivering yet another powerful, stable and beautiful Desktop OS.

Best advice is you need KDE 4.1 instead of 4.0 becuase the stability in 4.1 is much greater by far it can compare to 3.5.9 in terms of stability and many of the features are comming back again in 4.1 also Amarok 2 is very much useable allready if you use 4.0 then you get Error messages for the masses. “Please Contact Your System administrator” after the first time you use it. and it will pop up no matter what kde application you click on even the desktop. As for Nvidia Drivers, your card is probably supported by drivers in the repositories becuase the drivers are meant to work with all nvidia cards there is a legacy version for old cards eg. (geforce 2, 4…..)
Good Luck and Open Suse 11 is promising but ill stick with The Hardy Heron on my laptop.

I have been playing around with (open)SUSE since version 10, and I think 11.0 could possibly be the version to finally break me of the Windows XP crack habit. If only openoffice writer would fix a glaring shortcoming (for me at least) would I then be able to dump Word XP. I will give crossover office a try and see if Word runs under 11.0, and if all goes well, bye bye Windows forever!

You can install MS-Office using Wine, you don’t have to buy CrossOVer. I have MS-Office 2003 installed (even though I hardly use it) with wine and it wors just fine. It integrates in the start menu like a native app and runs just as good with wine as it does with CrossOver. Btw, Wine has reached version 1 at last.

I tried installing MSOffice XP using Wine 1.0RC and it wouldn’t install, so I thought I would try the Crossover Office demo and it seems to work okay (although I haven’t fully tested it). If OpenOffice Writer would only allow me to hide the top/bottom margins in Page view I might seriously make the effort to ditch Word, but this lack of feature bugs the @#$% out of me, especially on my laptop where screen real estate is limited. It might seem minor but it’s important to me. I hate to spend money for Crossover Office just to run an old version of Word XP.